As so many of you have harped this morning in the comments section and on Twitter, there are no moral victories in football.

Agreed.

But when an 0-3 team came 2:40 from being 1-2, it helps to peel back the layers and see what worked and what didn't.

Here's my take on how the Aztecs performed in that oh-so-close-but-no-cigar 34-30 defeat to Oregon State Saturday night.

It's a shame that a solid three quarters of play was negated by critical mistakes late in the fourth quarter, but at least the team showed some life.

The 0-3 win-loss record just looks ugly at this point, but there's some momentum building up here.

OFFENSE

Grade: C

Quinn Kaehler's two interceptions at the end were undoubtedly the final nail in the coffin, but SDSU's passing game looked much livelier against Oregon State than it has all season. The pass/run ratio Saturday was about 60/40 -- the first time this season that it's come close to being what the Aztecs desire.

That said, SDSU's running game was still not pretty. Adam Muema played his first full game this season after missing good chunks of the other two with a pesky low ankle sprain. He had a career-high 28 carries, and scored a touchdown for the first time in four games (dating back to the regular season finale against Wyoming in 2012) but he also averaged only 2.5 yards per carry and was frequently stuffed for loss.

Part of that could be due to Muema coming off the ankle injury: He was recovered enough to play, but was he 100 percent? There were times, like his 27-yard run in the third quarter, when he looked like the Muema of 2012, breaking tackles and dragging defenders behind him. But on too many occasions, he had nowhere to go.

That of course brings up the still-questionable offensive line. The run blocking is still sub-par, and Kaehler got sacked five times. It's starting to look as if this might be a problem all season long.

I also wonder about the plays called on the fourth-quarter drive that ended with the pick-six. If you're ahead by two points, with two minutes left, why throw at all on second down?

DEFENSE

Grade: B-

To the defense's credit, they came out amped and played that way almost till the very end.

Even though they only produced one sack, SDSU was in Oregon State QB Sean Mannion's face all day long with blitzes from everywhere. Linebacker Nick Tenhaeff was particularly ferocious, finishing with a career-high 2.5 tackles for loss, and sacking Mannion once.

Through this game, we saw that the defense is capable of bringing pressure. They also shut down the Oregon State running game completely -- the Beavers had zero rushing yards until the final drive when they put up 10 yards trying to run out the clock.

In the back, the secondary held up better than I thought they would against the Brandin Cooks-Richard Mullaney receiving tandem. Yes, Cooks still had 14 receptions for 141 yards, but hey, with the running game at a complete standstill, Oregon State had to move the offense somehow.